#68449 - dusda - Tue Jan 24, 2006 6:05 pm
Hey guys; I have a DS I got a couple months ago, from a guy that never used it. I'm pretty sure it's the first release (US, if that means anything). I know there is a way to tell what firmware it has installed, but I couldn't find a sticky or any threads that actually explain all of the possibilites. All I know is that I go into pictochat and pull the DS cartridge, which in my case just freezes the system without changing to any kind of color.
Anyway, I've been looking at the wireless devices list, and I'm not certain which one to pick up. I'd prefer USB, but PCMCIA would work fine as well, since I have a laptop. None of the cards listed in these catagories are immediately recognizable to me; I don't have a lot of income (I'm surviving off student loan disbursements while I'm in college), so I'd like to avoid any unnecessary mistakes in deciding what to buy. Any suggestions on which of these to pick up would be greatly appreciated.
Also, I'll probably need a flash cart of some sort. I've used an EZFlash one before, on a GBA SP, so I'm somewhat familiar with using them, but that was a long time ago and I don't know much about the new stuff. I'm primarily interested in a high capacity solution, so I don't have to worry as much about what room I have to work in (I'm a .NET programmer, after all :D). I plan on doing quite a bit of coding on this thing (In C, most likely, since .NET isn't feasable here...yet). Oh, and I'd prefer if it wasn't bulky or stuck out; I only have so much room in my backpack :).
As for software, I grabbed DevKitPro and the rest of the stuff listed here, which includes WifiMe (a bunch of bin files?), rt2560 driver 1.008, and the Nintendo DS rt2560 WMB 1.4 beta 1 stuff, which I also don't know how to use. Guess I get to do some reading about that once I get the proper wireless card.
So, for the lazy readers:
1. I Have an Old DS.
2. Need to know how to check firmware version.
3. Need a USB or PCMCIA wireless card.
4. Need a flash cart of some sort for media and coding.
5. I have DevKitPro/WifiMe/rt2560 driver set.
#68452 - MaHe - Tue Jan 24, 2006 6:31 pm
1. Yes.
2. You've already performed the Pictochat test. DS freezing means you've FW1 installed.
3. USB won't work - take a PCMCIA card. There are plenty of cheap ones out there. Print the list on a paper and go to the nearest PC store.
4. For developers & media, GBAmp is PERFECT (you're only limited by your CF capacity). It costs about 25$ (dirt cheap). If you want some integrated RAM (not very useful yet), go for M3 Adapter (but it's very expensive - 99$).
5. PA_Lib is useful for NDS homebrew or C/C++ begginers (if you are one). Download the newest version at www.palib.com .
#68455 - dusda - Tue Jan 24, 2006 7:08 pm
Looks like I'm getting a GBAmp then. Do I need to flash my DS to do this, and if so, what do I need?
EDIT: Also, found a cf card that might be good; check it out.
#68666 - HyperHacker - Thu Jan 26, 2006 9:37 am
You need some way to run homebrew on your DS; whether you want to flash is up to you but I highly suggest it. Any pass device or compatible wifi card can do the job, once you've flashed the GBAMP. Both flashes retain all original functionality and are pretty hard to screw up.
#68668 - dusda - Thu Jan 26, 2006 9:43 am
Both flashes? Enlighten me.
#68711 - Lynx - Thu Jan 26, 2006 2:03 pm
I believe by both, he is refering to:
FlashMe for your DS
Chishm's Firmware update for your GBA MP
FlashMe allows you to run hombrew on your DS without inserting the PassMe or being tied to your computer using WiFiMe.
Chishm's firmware update is requred for the GBA MP to be bootable by PassMe/WiFiMe.
#68757 - HyperHacker - Thu Jan 26, 2006 6:29 pm
Yes, that's what I meant. FlashMe is optional, but you need to flash the GBAMP to use it for homebrew.
#68759 - dusda - Thu Jan 26, 2006 6:33 pm
Aaaah, gotcha. I went and purchased a 1 gig SanDisk Ultra II Compact Flash card, and that cool little PCMCIA slot CF adapter for my laptop. Now just to find a sufficient wireless card and a GBAmp.
Speaking of the GBAmp, any preference on where I should look to get it? The product's website is terrible; they don't even link to carriers. I've found it on Ebay, should I just pick one up there? Also, aside from size, is there any difference between version 1 and 2 of the GBAmp?
#68869 - The 9th Sage - Fri Jan 27, 2006 3:58 am
| dusda wrote: |
Speaking of the GBAmp, any preference on where I should look to get it? The product's website is terrible; they don't even link to carriers. I've found it on Ebay, should I just pick one up there? Also, aside from size, is there any difference between version 1 and 2 of the GBAmp? |
I know Lik-Sang has it for like 30 to 40 bucks...I believe Lynx has it in a pack with a PassMe, not sure how much it's going for there.
Also, get the version 2 GBAMP...if you are unsure as to what it looks like go to Lik Sang and look for the picture on there. Apparently homebrew code that access the compact flash doesn't work on the first GBAMP version. It could be true for the firmware hack of it too, I'm not sure.
_________________
Now with 20% More Old Man from Zelda 1 than ever before!
#68926 - dusda - Fri Jan 27, 2006 12:31 pm
| The 9th Sage wrote: |
| dusda wrote: |
Speaking of the GBAmp, any preference on where I should look to get it? The product's website is terrible; they don't even link to carriers. I've found it on Ebay, should I just pick one up there? Also, aside from size, is there any difference between version 1 and 2 of the GBAmp? |
I know Lik-Sang has it for like 30 to 40 bucks...I believe Lynx has it in a pack with a PassMe, not sure how much it's going for there.
Also, get the version 2 GBAMP...if you are unsure as to what it looks like go to Lik Sang and look for the picture on there. Apparently homebrew code that access the compact flash doesn't work on the first GBAMP version. It could be true for the firmware hack of it too, I'm not sure. |
Purchased!
Okay, I've got a 1 gig compact flash card, a card reader, and a GBAmp v2. Now I just need the wireless card...
#69008 - HyperHacker - Fri Jan 27, 2006 11:23 pm
I got an Edimax card that works nice, cost $60 Canadian though. You can probably get a compatible card for $20-30.
#69040 - dusda - Sat Jan 28, 2006 2:22 am
| HyperHacker wrote: |
| I got an Edimax card that works nice, cost $60 Canadian though. You can probably get a compatible card for $20-30. |
Edit: nm, found it. It's on it's way!
#69491 - dusda - Tue Jan 31, 2006 1:54 am
My GBAmp v2 arrived today. I played around with it for a little while, then went ahead and updated the firmware on the GBAmp using this tutorial. That went smoothly; now what? What's the next step?
#69534 - HyperHacker - Tue Jan 31, 2006 9:39 am
Well, you can already run homebrew now, by putting it on your CF card and using WifiMe to boot it. However you'll probably want to install FlashMe.
#69595 - dusda - Tue Jan 31, 2006 6:46 pm
| HyperHacker wrote: |
| Well, you can already run homebrew now, by putting it on your CF card and using WifiMe to boot it. However you'll probably want to install FlashMe. |
I've heard I can use my GBAmp to install FlashMe; how do I do that, and where do I get FlashMe? The site I had to get it, http://ds.gcdev.com/dsfirmware/ , is offline.
#69616 - dusda - Tue Jan 31, 2006 8:57 pm
| dusda wrote: |
| HyperHacker wrote: | | Well, you can already run homebrew now, by putting it on your CF card and using WifiMe to boot it. However you'll probably want to install FlashMe. |
I've heard I can use my GBAmp to install FlashMe; how do I do that, and where do I get FlashMe? The site I had to get it, http://ds.gcdev.com/dsfirmware/ , is offline. |
Nevermind, got a copy of it, thanks to that other thread about the site being down. Anyways, can I flash my DS using the GBAmp?
#69618 - MaHe - Tue Jan 31, 2006 9:05 pm
Yes.
You'll need PassME or WiFiME to perform it though.
#69619 - dusda - Tue Jan 31, 2006 9:09 pm
| MaHe wrote: |
Yes.
You'll need PassME or WiFiME to perform it though. |
Alright, guess I get to wait for my wireless card to arrive.
#69938 - dusda - Fri Feb 03, 2006 2:55 am
Okay, my wireless card is here. I got wmb to send my DS the meteos japanese demo (very awesome, by the way), now I want to flash my DS. How? Just to reiterate, here's the hardware I have:
Edimax EW-7108PCg Wireless Card
GBAmp V2
SanDisk Ultra II 1GB Compact Flash Card
Nintendo DS, Firmware Version 1
EDIT: I don't understand how to get wifime working. this tutorial that everyone seems to be flaunting says to just double click wmb and it starts wifime. Well, having wifi'd meteos, I know that's not how it works. I can stream game demos to my DS just fine via the command line with the -data parameter, but I don't want that. I want to boot WifiMe.
There's a .zip on the same site called 'wifime.zip' that comes with a bunch of bin files in it. I assume that I am supposed to somehow use these bin files in conjunction with wmb, but...how the hell? I can't find any stickies or documentation that mentions wifime being seperate from wmb. Maybe I'm just confused...Can someone clear this up?
#69945 - tepples - Fri Feb 03, 2006 4:58 am
The proper command line is wmb -data wifime
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#69947 - dusda - Fri Feb 03, 2006 5:02 am
| tepples wrote: |
| The proper command line is wmb -data wifime |
Tried that, gives me this error:
| Code: |
C:\devkitPro\tools\wmb>wmb -data wifime
Nintendo DS - Wireless Multiboot Application - Version 1.4 BETA 1
(c) 2005 Tim Schuerewegen
Device Description = Ralink RT2560 Device
Device Hardware ID = PCI\VEN_1814&DEV_0201&SUBSYS_25601814&REV_01
Device Location = PCI bus 3, device 0, function 0
Driver Version = 1.0.0.8
Loading "wifime"... error: could not load "header.bin"
ds_multiboot_master_init() failed
ds_multiboot_master() failed
Press any key to exit... |
#70073 - Sektor - Sat Feb 04, 2006 4:07 am
That tutorial is for an old version of wmb.exe that didn't require the -data parameter.
You need to put wifime.zip in the data folder. No need to uncompress it.
#70074 - dusda - Sat Feb 04, 2006 4:24 am
| Sektor wrote: |
That tutorial is for an old version of wmb.exe that didn't require the -data parameter.
You need to put wifime.zip in the data folder. No need to uncompress it. |
Oh.
#70084 - dusda - Sat Feb 04, 2006 7:03 am
My DS is now flashed! And I got the sticker back in the right spot so my warranty isn't voided :D. Now to get to hello world...